Method and apparatus for making pile fabrics



June 2l, 1932. E. H. WARD METHOD AND APPARATUS` FOR MAKING PILE FABRICSFiled ug. 16, 1928 16 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY June 2l', 1932. E. H.4WARD 1,864,478,

I METHOD AND APPARATUS FR MAKING PILE FABRICS Filed Aug.`16,1928 1esheets-sheet y2 ATTORNEY E. H. WARD June 21, 1932.

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METI'OD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILE FABRICS 16 Sheets-Sheet 3 FiledAug. 1e

l NVENTOR ATTQRNEY `June 2l, 1932. E. H.' WARD 1,864,478

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILE FABRICS Filed Aug. 16,-1928 1ssneets4sheet '4 INVENTOR ERNEST /om MRD ATroRNEY I Vv2444 INVENTORERNEsr/mn/Klm 16 Sheets-Sheet 5 ATTORN E. H. WARD Filed Aug. 16

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILE FABRICS IIE-...

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E. H. WARD METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILE FABRICS Filed Aug.16,1928

16 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTOR wfsr #Aram #f4/m ATTORNEY June 21,1932. E, H,-WARD 1,864,478,

' METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILE FABRICS Filed Aug. 16, 1928 16Sheets-Sheet 7 June 21, 1932. E. H.wARD

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILE FABRICS Filed Aug. 16, 1928 16Sheets-Sheet 8 mai Mmm- ATroREY 16 Sheets-Sheet 9 `une 2l, 1932. E H,WARD METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILE FABRICS Filed Aug. 16. 192sfidi v E. H. WARD June 21, 1932.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PIL FABRICS Filed Aug. 16, 1928A 16SheetS-Sheet 10 ATTORNEY June 214, 1932. E. H. WARD 1,864,478

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PIL FABRICS Filed Aug. 16, 1928 16Sheets-Sheet ll E. H. WARD June 2l, 1932.

METHOD AND APPARAIus FOR MAKING PILE FARIcs Filed Aug. 16, 1928 16Sheets-Sheet 12 NA f INVENTOR [PA/E67 HAROLD M1/e0 ATTORNEY June 2l,1932. E WARD 1,864,478

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILE FABRICS Filed'Aug. 1e, 1928 1esheets-sheet 13 Y INVENTOR ERA/E57 #ARQ/.0 MRD ATTORNEY E. H. WARD `lune21, 193.2.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILE FABRICS Filed Aug. 16, 1928 16Sheets-Sheet 14 0 RR w u .M

ATTORNEY June 2l, 1932. E. H. WARD 1864,478

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILE FABRICS Filed Aug. 16, 192e 1esheets-sheet 15 l ik ATTORNEY June 21, 1932.

E. H. WARD METHOD AND APPARATUS Fon MAKING PILE FABRICS Filed Aug.`16,1928 16 Sheets-Sheet 16 lm 7 ,TA

Patented .lune 21, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ERNEST H. WARD, OFEAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO LEA INC., OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEYMETHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILE FABRICS Application filed August16, 1928. Serial No. 299,902.

This invention relates to a pile fabric material, and to a method andapparatus for making the same. More particularly theinvenflexed in alldirections `Without gapping or the showing of lines or openings Whereasproducts heretofore made show lines or openings which are more marked inone direction than another, and moreover, the product of my invention ismade in a manner so that there is substantially no loss of pilematerial, and a very considerable economy is thus affected overprocesses heretofore employed for the making of analogous products. Bythe use of my invention, the pile element material upon the backingelement may be originally produced of substantially even height so thatsubstantially no shearing is required in order to complete the product.The process whichl I hayel disclosed is also adapted to form a carpet orupholstery material in which the amount of pile forming materialemployed per unit of area may be less than is possible with any otherprocess, and the amount of pile element material may be re duced to aminimum by employing-a minimum pile height and by evenly distributingthe material over the backing surface to duce the desired low piledensity.

One of the objects of the present invention is to'provide a new anduseful pile fabric.

product which may be made Witha higher pile density and with greateruniformity of pile than products heretofore produced and which hascertain novel characteristics adapt twine, strands or fibres 1n the formof a batt,

ing; it particularly for upholstery material.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method for making a pilefabric material by cementing suitable pile elements to a backing in amanner so as to be evenly and uniformly distributed over the surface ofthe backing, and to provide a method of making a cemented pile fabric inwhich the pile elements may be made any desired length, and which isparticularly adapted for the making of upholstery and other pile fabricsin which the pile material is comparatively short and of uniformdensity.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method of making acemented pile fabric in which any character of fibre or specifically, toprovide, a method adapted for the use of spun or/unspun fibres which maybe attached to a flexible backing material in such a manner that theends only of 'pile element material ,may be used; or more thespunstrands or the unspun fibres are atl tached to the backing, andfurthermore, in a manner to obtain a uniform distribution of the pileelements over the surface to which they are attached. Y

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and useful apparatuswhich is particularly adapted for the making of cemented pile fabricsfrom yarn or other form of spun fibres or from looseor unspun fibres,.and which is adapted for the making of cemented pile fabricofsubstantially any de-l sired pile density and pile height, With uniformdistribution of the pile elements over the surface to Which they areconnected.

, Another object of. the invention is to provide a form of machine whichis applicable to the making of cemented pile fabrics from veither spunor unspun fibres, and'which is particularly adapted for'the making ofcemented pile fabric by the use of a batt composed of loose fibres ofany kind, including the varieties unadapted for spinning, such as goathair, for example.

Another objectof the invention is to provide a. machine which isapplicable to the making of cemented pile fabrics from p-ile elementswhich are to be cut or obtained from elemental material such as yarn,cord,

or individualfibres associated in any other Way, and which serves to cutor separate fibre elements and arrange them in fixed relation 'withsubstantially all of the ends of the libres exposed so as to permittheir attachment to a backing, while rigidly held 1n lace.

p Another object of the invention is to p ro- 5 vide a form of apparatusfor the production of cemented 'pile fabric material which lis ada tedfor cementin 'a mass of substantial arallel upstan ing fibres either toa sing e acking on one surface of the fibre mass, or to two backin swhich are attached1 on the opposite expose surfaces of the mass,-

to the endsof the fibres, whereby the pile element-s may be cut in aplane between the two backing elements to obtain two separate pilefabric products.

, Another object of the invention is to provide a form of machine whichis particularly adapted for feeding a material, from which pile elementsare to be obtained, in such a manner as to maintain the material undercontrol, so that each individual section or fibre portion which is to besevered from the material, may be maintained in fixed position duringthe cutting or severing action and maintained under control thereafter,so as to prevent disturbance of the fibres until it is attached to abacking; and to provide means for advancing cut sections in a manner tomaintain the fibre ends on each side of the sections in substantially asingle plane and to advance the severed sections in a mass, withoutdisturbing the relative position of the fibres with respect to eachother, whereby a backing material may be attached to either one or bothends of the fibres.

Another object of the' invention is to provide a form of apparatusparticularly adapted for controllably feeding a body or mass of materialfrom which pile elements are to be formed, and for outtin or severingsections orportions of the bo y or mass of material in substantially asingle plane while.

maintaining the remaining mass under automatic control, and whilemaintaining the severed material in controlled fixed relation by beingclamped or securely held during and subsequent to the cutting orsevering operation until the severed material is cemented to a backingmember.

Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus adapted tocontrollably feed a pile element forming material and to cut sectionsfrom such material in a sequence of operations in which the severedsections are collected side by side to present the fibre ends insubstantially two parallel planes, the fibres of the mass lying Vatsubstantially right angles to the planes; such apparatus including meansfor feeding the mass of fibres into contact with backing elements andfor cementing the backing elements to the fibre ends by means of avulcanizable cement, together with means for' vulcanizing the cementmaterial, whereby the fibre elements become '65 permanently attached tothe backing mem-` Another object of the invention is to pro- 7 vide aform of apparatus which is adapted for either the use of separators tocontrolla' bly feed sections of cut material through the machine incontact with a backing or backing element to be applied to the fibres,or for use without separators in such a manner that. the fibres of thecut sections may be maintained under control in passing through theapparatu's, and cemented to a backing element on each surface of themass of cut sections, whereby after the fibres are permanently cementedto backing elements the fibres may be readily cut in a plane between thebacking elements to provide two separate and distinct pile fabricproducts.

Another object of the invention is to provide means ywhereb sections orunit masses of libres having their ends exposed and maintained insubstantially parallel planes maybe packed under pressure into achamber, and means to permit withdrawal of the packing means without,releasing the packing pressure on the mass of fibres is the chamber.

In accordance with this object, I preferably provide a packing plungerhaving recesses or grooves extending inwardly from the face of theplunger at an angle and provide means for replacingthe plunger pressure,or substituting for the plunger a series of pins which are movedangularly into place in the grooves or recesses inthe face of theplunger, permitting it to be withdrawn leaving the pins in pressurecontact with the mass of fibres at the entrance end of the cut-sectionchamber, thus permitting the batt or pile element material to be fedinto place for the next cutting operation, and permitting a cycle ofoperations to take place, including cutting the batt material, insertingthe cutsection into the out-section chamber by means no of the plunger,and withdrawing the pins when the plunger has moved up to the entranceend of the cut section chamber so as not tov block `lche entrance to thechamber, thereafter substituting the pins for the plunger when it hasmoved into its extreme forward position without releasing the pressureon the mass of cut sections in the chamber, so as to hold the cutsections therein. and withdrawing the plunger to permit the feeding ofthe batt into place for the next cutting operation and permitting thefeeding of separators into place when separators are employed in thepreferred mode of carrying out the invention. With these and otherobjects in view which will be apparent from the following description,the invention comprises the various features hereinafter described andmore particularly defined in the annexed claims.

In carrying out my invention I preferably employ the form of machineshownin detall in the accompanying drawings although it is to beunderstood that various parts thereof may be modified in a'manner aslWill be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing fromvthe invention as hereinafter defined in the claims. By means of the formof machine illustrated in the drawings, the various method stepshereinafter fully described, may be carried out and the product of myinvention may be made.

The form of machine hereinafter fully described -oferates to feed theelemental material which is to constitute the pile elements of myproduct, and to rigidly hold the pile elements in the desired relationsubjected to lateral pressure to provide the desired pile density, thematerial being preferably fed into contact with flexible backingmembers, one on each side of the mass of pile elements, the pileelements being cemented thereto, preferably by the use of a vulcanizablerubber cement, which is subsequently vulcanized to permanently attachthe ends of the pile elements to the backing Amembers, and the pileelements being cut in a plane-between the backing' members to obtain twopile fabric products. l I

In the Operation of the machine above referred to, the pile elements arereferably formed by cutting a batt into suitable sections to providepile elements of the desired lengths in the making of the pile fabricproduct. Although the operation of my apparatus will be described mainlyin connection with the use of a batt or body of loose fibre elements, itis to be-understood that the machine is equally applicable to, oroperative with, yarns or `other suitable material as above stated, and Ido not desire to be limited in any manner with reference to the use ofany specific material, except as hereinafter defined in the claims.

If a batt comprising goat hair, for eX` ample, is employed in the makingof my pile fabric product, the fibres, before belng fed to the-machine,may -be arranged in a general longitudinal direction of the batt` by adrawing or straightening opera-tion, or obv10usly the fibres coming fromthe dofer of a carding machine, for example, maybe laid in a generalparallel direction longltudlnally of the batt by means of a suitableform of lapper.

After a battof a suitable widthand thickness has been formed, it is fedinto the machine of my invention by any suitable feeding mechanism, andis brought into position in connection with the cutting element thereofto be cut into the desired lengths. In the operation of the machine itis practically essential that the batt portion to be severed be heldadjacent the point of cutting during the cutting operation, andmaintained under control thereafter to prevent relative displace- 'mentof the libres until after vthe section has been pas/sed into place incontact with the remainmg mass ofiibres'. The batt is preferably rigidlyheld at the portion to be cut both below and above the point of cutting,and preferably both-the cut section and the remaining batt portion arerigidly held thereaft-er so as to prevent disarrangementof the libresand to maintain the batt feeding under positive control.

After a batt section has been severed from the remaining body of thebatt, the section 'is preferably maintained in upright or upstandingposition and is then united under controlled lateral pressure tothe/main body of fibres which is to be connected to the backing, and isthen transferred into contact with a backing material preferably on bothsides of the pile element body in contact with the exposed ends of thefibre elements and is cemented thereto by' means of cementing materialso that the pile elements are individually united tothe backing at bothends thereof.

After the pile elements have been permanently fastened to the backingmaterial, the libre elements are cut by any suitable cutting means in aplane parallel to the backing and the usual finishing operations may becarried out to obtain the desired pile height upon the backing membersto form the finished product.V

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the preferred embodiment of mymachine:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side vieu7 of the pile fabric forming apparatusof my invention showing the essentialy elements thereof for forming thecemented pile fabric product, comprising a part of the means for feedingthe batt or'pile 'forming material into the machine, means for cuttingthe material, means for feeding cutsections of material into achamberbetween separators to hold the fibres in place, means forapplying a cementing material to the ends of the fibres, means forapplying a fabric or other fiexible material to the ends of the fibresor pile elements, means for applying heat and pressure to produce-H4vulcanization of the cementing material to` permanently attach thefibres to the backing, and means for cutting the pile elements and forcarrying out the finishing operations to produce the pile fabricproduct.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view in velevation taken on section line 2 2 ofFig. 5 showing the front end of the machine asV it appears from theright, and showing the detailed arrangement of the cams and cam leversoperating the feeding jaws, plunger and other associated parts of themechanism;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view in elevation of the parts of themechanism for cutting sections of the batt or pile forming material andfor feeding thev cut sections of tion pressure upon the ends of the pileelements;

Fig. pile forming machine, a portion thereof being in section, showingthe cam systems and levers for producing the desired movement of thevarious parts of the machine operatively connected therewith; L

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of a portlon of the pile fabric formingmachine showing p0rtions of the feed mechanism and a portion of theconveyor belts and parts connected therewith, a portion of the upperbelt, associated rollers and top pressure plate being removed to showunderlying parts of the machine;

Fig. 7 is a detailed sectional View, of the machine taken o n thesection line 7 -7 of Fig. 5, showing thc cooperating parts which serveto feed the pile clement material into4 the machine and to cut thematerial into sections together with parts cooperating therewith. Thisligure shows also the cams and associated' levers for actuating theseparator feed pinsE and for operating the cut-section holding pinswhich serve to hold the cut-sections in the cut-section chamber whilethe plunger is withdrawn tofpermit yfeeding of the pile elementmaterial;

' Fig. 8 is a detailed View in section showing the position of thecooperating parts of the machine during the cutting operation;

Fig. 9 is a Vertical sectional view taken on the section line 9 9 ofFig. 5 in the direction of thevarrows, thisview showing the cut-sectionholding pins in retracted position as in Fig. 8, but showing the plungeradvanced from the intermediate position shown in Fig. 8 to its extremeforward position in which the last severed section with its holdingseparator has I been forced into the cut-section chamber;

Fig. 10 is a 'detailed sectional View showing the plunger advanced toits eXtreme forward position and the cut section holding pins 7 moved'into their` 'raised `position through openings in the plate 77formingthe floor at the entrance to the cutsection chamber, and passinginto the corresponding grooves or openings 53 in'the face of theplunger, thereby permitting Athe plunger to be withdrawn withoutdisturbing the position of the cut sections fin. the cut-sectionchamber;

5 is a front view in elevation of they 4of the arrows;

which they serve to hold the front separator and cut sections in placein the forward end of the cut-section chamber;

Fig. 13 is a detail sectional view of a por-` tion of the cut-sectionchamber showing the position of the cut-sections of batt or libreelements in the chamber between the belts for applying back pressure;

Fig. 14 is a plan view of a portion of the machine for effectingmovement ofthe cutting rollers transversely across the machine, a partthereof being in section to show the rollers, the view being taken onthe section line 1,4-14 of Fig. 11 in the direction of the arrows; thisView shows the cutting rollers at the left of the machine at thecompletion of a cutting stroke and brought out of engagement with thepile element material;

Fig. 15 is a plan View of the portion of the machine shown in Fig. 14, apart thereof being in section, showing the cutting rollers in contactwith the batt or pile element material at the beginning of a cuttingstroke;

Fig. 16 is a front elevation of a portion of the machine showing thepreferred form of means by which the cutting rollers are operated,together with parts associated therewith for controlling the sequence ortime of operation relative to other parts;

Fig. 17 is a detailed sectional view of the operating valve 49 in whichthe direction of passage of air to and from the cylinder in the positionof the parts shown in Figs. '16 and 18 is indicated byfarrows;

Fig. 18 is a view in side elevation of the portion of the machine shownin Fig. 16, being taken on the section line 18-18 in Fig. 16, in thedirection of the arrows;

Fig. 19is a detailed sectional View of the operating valve 49 showingthe position of f the valve in which exhaust takes place from the headend of the operating cylinder 40 and in which compressed air` isadmitted into the crank end thereof, the direction of the passage of airto and from the cylinder being in- V dicated by arrows;

Fig. 2O is a section plan view taken on the section line 20--20 of Fig.11 in the direction Fig. 21 is 'a fragmentary sectional eleval tiontaken on the section line 21-21 of Fig.l 11 in the direction of thearrows showing the separator magazine and guides for slidably holdingthe separators therein;

Fig. 22 is a detailed sectional view in ele-

